Further Loss Of Life Research Articles

Aftershocks Following the 9 April 2013 Bushehr Earthquake, Iran

On 9 April 2013 at 11:52 UTC (16:22 local time), a Mw 6.2 earthquake occurred at the depth of 20 Km in Dashti district in south-west Iran’s Bushehr province. The macroseismic epicenter was located nearby the city of Shonbeh. During one month after the earthquake, a total of 282 aftershocks hit the epicentral region, mostly at the east and north sides. They ranged from 2.5 to 5.7 on the Richter scale. Seventy aftershocks (24.9%) were M4.0-4.9 and eight (2.8%) were M5.0-5.7. Aftershocks are potentially able to do additional damage. In Bushehr earthquake, a M5.4 aftershock on 10 April in Chahgah village caused at least four injuries and destruction of several buildings that had been already damaged by the main shock. Knowledge about the aftershock induced damages provides opportunities for timely risk communication with the affected people and for long term community education. This will hopefully increase the community awareness and minimize the risk of further loss of lives.

Climate forecasts in disaster management: Red Cross flood operations in West Africa, 2008

In 2008, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) used a seasonal forecast for West Africa for the first time to implement an Early Warning, Early Action strategy for enhanced flood preparedness and response. Interviews with disaster managers suggest that this approach improved their capacity and response. Relief supplies reached flood victims within days, as opposed to weeks in previous years, thereby preventing further loss of life, illness, and setbacks to livelihoods, as well as augmenting the efficiency of resource use. This case demonstrates the potential benefits to be realised from the use of medium-to-long-range forecasts in disaster management, especially in the context of potential increases in extreme weather and climate-related events due to climate variability and change. However, harnessing the full potential of these forecasts will require continued effort and collaboration among disaster managers, climate service providers, and major humanitarian donors.

Building Blocks and Stumbling Blocks: Peacebuilding in Aceh, 2005–2009

Building Blocks and Stumbling Blocks: Peacebuilding in Aceh, 2005–2009 Craig Thorburn1 (bio) Introduction The August 2005 Helsinki Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, GAM) formally brought an end to nearly thirty years of violent conflict in Aceh. Since then, Aceh has been largely peaceful, and major strides have been achieved in laying the groundwork for lasting peace and social and economic recovery and development in the province. The twenty-nine year rebellion and counterinsurgency wrought terrible deprivation and suffering for the majority of the province’s population, causing nearly 30,000 deaths. The conflict damaged and destroyed infrastructure and productive assets, disrupted economic activity, and bred rampant corruption and extortion. Despite the province’s abundant natural wealth, the poverty level in Aceh remained among the highest in Indonesia.2 In the period following the demise of President Suharto’s New Order government in 1998, numerous attempts were made to negotiate an end to the conflict, but none [End Page 83] lasted more than a few months.3 It was not until after the catastrophic Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004 that the government of Indonesia and GAM were able to negotiate a lasting peace. GAM leaders in Aceh and abroad all lost family members in the tsunami, contributing to their resolve to prevent further loss of life in the province. Indonesia’s political leaders, as well, were moved to overcome their differences with GAM for the greater good of helping the Acehnese people to rebuild their lives and livelihoods. The presence of large numbers of international aid organizations and workers involved in the tsunami recovery effort opened the province to international scrutiny, helping to push both sides to the negotiating table. In an opinion piece published in the New York Times the day after the signing of the accords, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said, Peace in Aceh was a priority that I publicly set for myself during last year’s presidential campaign and after my government took office in October. But the real political opportunity came knocking only after the tsunami last December.4 Government negotiators were authorized to bring important new offers to the table, including a significant realignment of the economic relationship between Aceh and the Indonesian central government; amnesty for GAM fighters; release of political prisoners and detainees; and permission for Aceh-based political parties to contest elections.5 In return, GAM negotiators agreed to drop their demand for Acehnese independence, accepting instead provisions that mandated significantly increased self-government for the province.6 Mediator Martti Ahtisaari’s insistence on the principle that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” distinguished this negotiation from previous attempts, and surely contributed to its lasting success.7 The historic accord was signed by Indonesian Justice Minister Hamid Awaluddin and GAM Chairman Malik Mahmood in Helsinki on August 15, 2005, ushering in a new era of peace in Aceh. In spite of the long duration and high level of violence and destruction of the Aceh conflict (and unlike post-conflict situations in many other parts of the world), institutions and capacities needed to lay the foundations for sustainable peace and development were largely in place at the time the accord was signed. In Aceh itself, although a significant proportion of the population experienced some form of victimization during the conflict, there were not major population dislocations, and village and other local institutions still functioned. Provincial and district government structures were intact, though operating at sub-optimal levels. As in conflict zones worldwide, Aceh’s government was characterized by high levels of corruption and poor service delivery. Nonetheless, structures were in place at the time of the signing that provided a viable starting point for rebuilding effective local government in Aceh. [End Page 84] Indonesia is a successful democracy, with a robust economy. The national government was able immediately to mobilize political and fiscal resources to support the peacebuilding process. Numerous international donors already had a presence in Aceh, supporting the massive tsunami recovery effort there. Some of these agencies initiated new peacebuilding programs, and a small portion of excess tsunami recovery funds was redirected to assist conflict-affected...

Ubiquitous robust communications for emergency response using multi-operator heterogeneous networks

A number of disasters in various places of the planet have caused an extensive loss of lives, severe damages to properties and the environment, as well as a tremendous shock to the survivors. For relief and mitigation operations, emergency responders are immediately dispatched to the disaster areas. Ubiquitous and robust communications during the emergency response operations are of paramount importance. Nevertheless, various reports have highlighted that after many devastating events, the current technologies used, failed to support the mission critical communications, resulting in further loss of lives. Inefficiencies of the current communications used for emergency response include lack of technology inter-operability between different jurisdictions, and high vulnerability due to their centralized infrastructure. In this article, we propose a flexible network architecture that provides a common networking platform for heterogeneous multi-operator networks, for interoperation in case of emergencies. A wireless mesh network is the main part of the proposed architecture and this provides a back-up network in case of emergencies. We first describe the shortcomings and limitations of the current technologies, and then we address issues related to the applications and functionalities a future emergency response network should support. Furthermore, we describe the necessary requirements for a flexible, secure, robust, and QoS-aware emergency response multi-operator architecture, and then we suggest several schemes that can be adopted by our proposed architecture to meet those requirements. In addition, we suggest several methods for the re-tasking of communication means owned by independent individuals to provide support during emergencies. In order to investigate the feasibility of multimedia transmission over a wireless mesh network, we measured the performance of a video streaming application in a real wireless metropolitan multi-radio mesh network, showing that the mesh network can meet the requirements for high quality video transmissions.

Critical Intersection Signal Optimization During Urban Evacuation Utilizing Dynamic Programming

Despite advancements in the field of traffic planning and operations, many major cities still rely on pretimed signal settings. With only pretimed signal control strategies, the secondary effects of a terror attack are magnified by slow evacuation times resulting in further loss of life. However, the cost of implementing new infrastructure based solely on the chance of a no-notice evacuation is not something that city planners are willing to do. The purpose of the research is to define a cost-effective methodology to develop pretimed signal control strategies to assist evacuations in urban areas. To that end, a dynamic programming methodology was developed to assist critical intersections in urban corridors. To test this methodology, a microscopic traffic-simulation environment was created for a case study of a 10 intersection evacuation corridor in Washington, DC. Using the proposed methodology to optimizing signal splits of a critical intersection within an evacuation corridor, evacuation clearance time was reduced by approximately 1 h. Furthermore, this formulation can be used to develop pretimed signal control settings for evacuation scenarios. Results showed that peak-hour signal timings are not sufficient in the case of an emergency, and signal timing plans must be tailored for emergency evacuation.

Three-Dimensional Seismic Collapse Analysis of Wooden Houses Using Rigid Body-Spring Method

In Japan, the past few decades revealed the vulnerability of wood-framed residential buildings to strong earthquakes. The Kobe earthquake in 1995 caused tremendous loss of lives resulting from the collapse and damage of such structures that significantly affected economic condition. This disaster motivated many researchers to study the mechanisms of collapse of engineering structures in order to prevent further loss of lives in the future. In this paper, an innovative methodology in simulating the dynamic response of wood-framed buildings, for purposes of seismic performance assessment and retrofitting, is presented. The proposed method, which can simulate inelastic behavior of structures, is capable of showing realistic progressive collapse mechanisms and accurate seismic response of structures. The sequence of analyses and results in the form of computer animations are used to help building owners gain a better understanding of the seismic performance of their buildings before and after the structural reinforcement. Applications to real wood-framed residential buildings were used to show the effectiveness of the methodology in seismic performance assessment as well as retrofit plan development. Language: en

A preliminary engineering geological study in the northern part of the Taplejung Window, far eastern Lesser Nepal Himalaya

In the northern part of the Taplejung area, two tectonic units are recognised. These are the Higher Himalayan and Lesser Himalayan Sequences separated by the Main Central Thrust (MCT). The Lesser Himalayan Sequence is exposed in the Taplejung Window represented by Taplejung Formation, Mitlung Augen Gneiss, and Lingkhim Schist from the bottom to top. The main rock types in the Lesser Himalayan Sequence are phyllite, schist, metasandstone, quartzite and augen gneiss. Three Proterozoic granitic bodies are intruded into Taplejung Formation: Tamor River Granite, Amarpur Granite and Kabeli Khola Granite. The rocks of the Higher Himalaya on the hanging wall of the MCT are composed of kyanite-sillimanite bearing banded gneiss, orthogneiss, migmatite, quartzite.
 Three major landslides in the area, viz., Hangdewa, Hireba, and Paire lie along the valley slope sides of the Tamor River. Stream erosion and incision, presence of highly weathered rocks, surface and subsurface drainage are responsible in activating the landslides. Due to the presence of mainly weathered phyllites, favourable structural orientations and wet cultivation practice in the area have contributed to the development of these landslides. The Hangdewa and Hireba landslides have endangered the villages in between them and ultimately the Suketar airport. The landslides are gradually destroying more and more areas of cultivated land and property and increased loss of human lives.
 Excessive anthropogenic interference in the form of development activities like unplanned urbanization, deforestation and unfavorable agricultural practices have greatly aggravated the situation. The intensity of damages amplifies during the late part of monsoon each year. The study suggests that further detailed surface and subsurface investigation of the landslides are needed to prevent further loss of lives and property.

The Communal Problem in the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent: Some Current Implications

A CCORING TO INFORMATION compiled by the government of Pakistan, utilizing reports appearing in the Indian press, some 3000 Muslims have lost their lives in India in the course of some 730 civil disturbances of HinduMuslim character. These statistics cover the period from the signing in i950 of the Liaquat-Nehru Pact on the protection of minorities to November i967.' Corresponding figures for Hindus killed in Pakistan in disturbances of like character do not seem to be available, but sources published in Pakistan indicate that the number of Hindus so killed, in the same period, could not have been less than 200, taking the minimum published figure in every case.2 It is clear that the accuracy of any of these figures from press sources cannot be taken as reliable. Whatever doubts may have lingered as to the veracity or otherwise of officially disclosed figures relating to death or injury caused during civil disturbances have surely been resolved by the pregnant words with which begins an editorial appearing in the Indian newspaper, Statesman: Like the communal riots in Jamshedpur and Rourkela in i964, those in Ranchi in August last year were far more serious than the Press was able to publish at the time.3 It is clear that this view is of very wide application and is by no means restricted to the Indian Republic. Briefly stated, therefore, the precise reliability of such reporting is not a subject on which further speculation is necessary, nor is it necessary to venture into such questions as to further loss of life on both sides, as between India and Pakistan, incurred in the course